As a studio painter, I work from photos. There is a ton of pressure out there in ArtWorld to paint plein air, which might be French for “on location”. There is a ton of embarrassment out there in ArtWorld about painting from photos, because it usually garners a lot of derision and sneering and condescension.

One of my painting mentors (virtual – we have corresponded but never met) Jack White has said, “All realistic painters either work from photos or they lie about it.”

I try to NEVER lie. You can count on finding the truth here, although I do minimize the ugliness as much as possible. This blog is supposed to be fun, informative and entertaining, not edgy, rude or shocking.

Now, let’s move on to the point of this post, which is to discuss the difficulties of a commissioned oil painting of a place I love here in Three Rivers.

I did a commissioned oil painting for my amazing friend Barbara. It was a composite of several photos – her house, all the lavender in bloom, and hills behind. There is no place to stand to see this actual view, so I worked from several photos.

 Being the generous and thoughtful person that she is, Barbara gave away this painting. Then she asked me for another just like it.

Instead of looking at my computer screen and attempting to copy this painting, I pulled out my photos again. This is because I don’t think the computer reproduction is very accurate, and because I like to work from the original source. And, I hope I paint better now so will be able to do an improved version of this. (Ever hopeful, always wanting to improve, ever optimistic, this California artist!)

Either I’ve lost some of my photos, or I’ve lost my ability to paint from them or I’m losing my mind.

This is one of the hardest things I’ve attempted in awhile! I’ve been messing around with the proportions, studying the photos, staring at the painting, looking at the version on the computer, and not making any progress.

Why is this so hard?? What is my problem??

Finally, after wasting an inordinate amount of time just staring and thinking, I decided to go outside and look at the actual hills.

I took my camera for a walk so I could fully see the end of the house that we want in this painting. I need to see the proportions of the windows to the shutters to the wall space on either end and in the middle. 

Nothing is solved, but now I have even more pictures to study.